Royce Lewis homered twice to help the visiting Minnesota Twins earn a 12-3 win against the Los Angeles Angels in the opener of a three-game series on Monday evening in Anaheim, Calif.
Lewis, who grew up in south Orange County and was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 MLB Draft out of JSerra Catholic High in San Juan Capistrano, had never played at Angel Stadium in his previous 239 major league games over four injury-plagued seasons.
James Outman homered and singled, Austin Martin had two hits and scored three times and Luke Keaschall had three hits and two RBIs for the Twins (64-80), who have won two in a row for the first time in a month.
Twins starter Simeon Woods Richardson (6-4) posted his first victory in two months after allowing three runs and five hits over five innings. He struck out six and walked one.
Angels rookie right-hander Caden Dana (0-1) made his second major league start this season and fifth overall. He surrendered five runs and five hits over 4 2/3 innings while striking out nine and walking five.
The Angels (67-77), who have lost four of five, got a two-run double from Sebastian Rivero in his first big-league at-bat in three years.
In the second inning, Lewis lifted a high fly that nicked off the glove of leaping center fielder Bryce Teodosio and over the fence for a 2-0 lead.
The Angels had runners on the corners and one out in their half of the second when Rivero made his team debut, lining a double over Outman’s head in center to score both runners and tie it 2-2.
Mike Trout came up with two outs in the inning and lined a single to left to score Rivero.
Minnesota answered in the top of the third with an RBI single by Keaschall that tied it 3-3.
Dana got the first two outs in the fifth but gave up a single to Trevor Larnach and then stayed in to face Lewis, who pulled a fastball into the seats in left for another two-run homer and a 5-3 lead.
After the Angels couldn’t take advantage of a leadoff triple by Teodosio in the fifth, Outman led off the sixth with a home run to make it 6-3.
The Los Angeles defense then fell apart, as two fielding errors by third baseman Yoan Moncada, an overthrow by shortstop Zach Neto and a misplayed fly ball in right by Matthew Lugo helped the Twins expand their lead to 12-3.
–Field Level Media
